garmin geko gps

[mossyoak]

does anyone own this i'm thinking about getting one of these but but don't know if its the right chose i think i'll get a geko 201

 

[Xrunner]

I have a Geko 201... anything specific you want to know?

-Mike

 

[mossyoak]

yes are there any problems with it? how long the battery life? how durable is it? would you buy it again? of not what would you buy? thanks so much

 

[Frangible]

I had a 301, the top of the line unit, and would not buy one again.

Battery life was pretty poor... 8 hours. My color GPS (Garmin Legend C) that I have now gets 3 times that.

Durable? Sure. All Garmin GPSs are solid, though.

My beefs with it:

1. No mapping etc, made it useless for anything except hiking imo
2. It wasn't very useful for hiking because the small patch antenna made getting a fix under tree cover very difficult
3. I connected it to my laptop in my car, but this was a major hassle. It was awkward to view and set-up. It works better in theroy than it does in practice.
4. The interface sucks imo. You cannot pan the map screen. Not really sure what they were thinking there.

The Garmin Legend C is a *LOT* better and well worth the additional price. The color screen is fantastic and it's great for car navigation, and the 3x battery life and larger patch antenna make it better for hiking as well. (especially since you can use topo maps)

I would not buy a Geko again. It wasn't bad per se... but very limiting.

I also did not think the sensors were worth the additional price, since I brought a magnetic compass anyway. But YMMV.

 

[Fitz]

I see Amazon has the 101 for $49.99 after $20.00 rebate.

 

[mossyoak]

how was it for just regular day hiking thats what i'm most interested in

 

[beam_me_up]

depends what you are going to use it for. I have one of these GPS and it has been working great for Geocaching...

 

[Xrunner]

Battery life isn't great but isn't horrible either. It seems to be very well build, and is a very compact unit. If you are looking for one that can do mapping (like for hiking) I would consider something along the etrex line, not the geko. Mine works great for the occasional short hike but I wouldn't recommend it for any advanced or prolonged hikes/trips. Its best feature seems to be the size, and its worst is the lack of things it can do.

-Mike

 

[Frangible]

[ QUOTE ]

how was it for just regular day hiking thats what i'm most interested in


[/ QUOTE ]

Not very useful. Tree cover killed it. Depends where you hike, I guess.

 

[Rogue_monkey]

[ QUOTE ]
beam_me_up said:
depends what you are going to use it for. I have one of these GPS and it has been working great for Geocaching...

[/ QUOTE ]

Yet Another geocacher in CPF. thats three I know of including myself.

 

[mossyoak]

hey stupid question is geocaching when you put the gps cordinates into the gps and follow the arrow to the prize?

 

[Rogue_monkey]

ya pretty much. someone hides the cache and you try and find it and then leave it for the next guy to find.

www.geocaching.com

 

[SilverFox]

Hello Rogue Monkey,

I have been known to find a cache or two as well...

Tom

 

[mossyoak]

how do you put the cordinates into the geko?

 

[Rogue_monkey]

mossy oak

there are generally two ways to do it, manually (you'd have to look at the manual to figure this out) or by by a serial cable via your computer. The serial cable option is available on most models. I"m not sure about the geko tho.

 

[PocketBeam]

<--- occasional GeoCacher...

 

[Aloft]

[ QUOTE ]
Rogue_monkey said:
[ QUOTE ]
beam_me_up said:
depends what you are going to use it for. I have one of these GPS and it has been working great for Geocaching...

[/ QUOTE ]

Yet Another geocacher in CPF. thats three I know of including myself.

[/ QUOTE ]

Count me in as a geocacher as well. . . and my wife, and my folks, to whom I introduced the sport about 18 months ago.

Instead of the Geko, take a look at the Garmin ForeTrex or ForeRunners. I'm hoping for one from Santa. . . My theory is that the reception won't be much better (limited by the size of the antenna like the Geko), but it's way small, almost "wearable" and has a PC interface. I'll use mine almost exclusively for "measuring" the length of hikes. . . I walk a lot for exercise, and carrying my ETrex Legend is kind of a pain. I do like the Legend too, though. I'll try to report on the performance of the ForeRunner after Christmas.

 

[Floating Spots]

[ QUOTE ]
Rogue_monkey said:


[/ QUOTE ]
Yet Another geocacher in CPF. thats three I know of including myself.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am too.
I use the same handle there.
Just got started last fall.

 

[mossyoak]

so to boil it all down should i buy it or not yes or no

 

[Banshee]

I've purchased two Garmin Legends in the past two weeks for no more than 125.00 each. eBay (the bane of retailers everywhere) is a great spot for finding GPS's at a discount.

The Garmin site has a comparision page that you can use to show the diff between the basic eTrex, Geko models and the Mapping Venture, Vista and Legend models.